The Invention of Russia: The Journey from Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War

Acknowledgements

In 1991, when still a student at the Moscow Institute of Theatre Arts in the Soviet Union, I met a man to whom I owe my journalistic career and who inspired me to write this book. John Lloyd was the Moscow Bureau Chief at the Financial Times. He did not just report on Russia – he lived it – and made that story part of his own life. Twelve years later, I was a Moscow correspondent for the FT and John asked me to write about Russian television and its impact on politics for the FT Weekend Magazine, which he edited. This book grew out of that seed. I could never have attempted or completed it without his support and friendship.

Toby Mundy, the former publisher of Atlantic Books, commissioned the book and put his faith in it on the basis of a single conversation. His enthusiasm, encouragement and interest in the subject allowed me to broaden its scope and explore different avenues even as one deadline passed after another. When Toby departed from Atlantic, he left me in the most capable hands of James Nightingale, whose calm professionalism, intellectual curiosity and patience steered this book into publication. He made the editing a creative and enjoyable process. I am grateful to Jane Robertson, who proofread the book and Jenny Overton who copy-edited it. I thank my agent Zoë Waldie for her advice and professionalism.

I have been blessed with my colleagues and friends at The Economist who made writing this book possible. John Micklethwait, hired me for the job of Moscow correspondent and gave me generous book leave. The late Peter David, my foreign editor, gave me the freedom to venture outside politics and the economy; Ann Wroe indulged my interest in Russian intelligentsia, while Fiammetta Rocco and Edward Lucas offered valuable tips. Andrea Burgess helped with sources and references. Edward Carr, the deputy editor, who has turned editing into an art form, has been immensely kind, supportive and encouraging and gave me time to complete the book. The unwavering support and comradeship of John Peet, my Europe editor, who put up with my absences and late filings, has been a source of strength and sanity. Anne Foley, The Economist’s managing editor, looked after me and my family at times of need during our years in Russia.

In writing this book, as in every other endeavour, I relied on my teacher, friend and mentor who has guided me in life and in work – Inna Solovyova. She directed me in my thinking and supported me at times of desperation. She read every draft and gave invaluable feedback both on content and structure. I owe her far more than this book. Her ideas, willpower, ethics and judgements have had by far the most formative influence on me over the years. I thank Andrew Miller for reading, correcting and commenting on the manuscript, but even more so for his and Emma Bell’s unfailing counsel, loyal friendship, forbearance and encouragement that has sustained me and my family ever since we had the good fortune to meet them in Moscow ten years ago.

Maria Lipman gave enormously generously of her time, undertaking to review the entire manuscript. She saved me from many errors and made me re-examine some of my contentions. I could not have done without the assistance of Ksenia Barakovskaya who stoically checked endnotes and missing references. Her help in preparing the book for publication has been invaluable.

I benefited from the unassuming advice of Andrei Zorin whose research in the development of the Soviet intelligentsia laid the base for the chapters about the end of the Soviet Union. He and Irina Zorina also kindly lent us their house in Oxford in the summer of 2012. Kirill Rogov helped cut through the noise and fog of Putin’s era, formulating the key events and turning points that led Russia to its current state. Sam Amiel came up with the title for one of the chapters. Mikhail Iampolski, a scholar and essayist, kindly commented on the early chapters of the book and challenged its conventional wisdom.

Many people gave freely of their time, granted interviews and provided documents. Igor Malashenko has been an indispensable guide through Russia’s modern history. Hours of conversations with him in Kiev and Moscow provided the carcass of the story of the 1990s and helped to conceptualize the book. Evgeny Kiselev meticulously recollected the story of NTV, the original motives and sequence of events. Irina Yakovleva enlivened the portrait of her late husband Yegor Yakovlev who burst his way in, and remained one of the main characters of the book. I am grateful to Sir Rodric Braithwaite for letting me read his unpublished Moscow diaries. I also benefited from the help of Valentina Sidorova of the Russian State Archive who allowed me to work with Yegor Yakovlev’s papers before they were even catalogued. Natalia Kurakina helped with television archives at NTV.

I thank for their time and thoughts: Yevgenia Albats, Nina Andreeva, Viktor Anpilov, Peter Aven, A. Craig Copetas, Anatoly Chubais, Marietta Chudakova, Sergei Dorenko, Mikhail Dmitriev, Boris Dubin, Konstantin Ernst, Maria Gaidar, Mikhail Fishman, Mikhail Fridman, Natalia Gevorkyan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lev Gudkov, Vladimir Gusinsky, Natalia Ivanova, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Veronika Kutsyllo, Yulia Latynina, Alexei Levinson, Viktor Loshak, Dmitry Muratov, Alexei Navlalny, Boris Nemtsov, Alexander Nevzorov, Elena Nusinova, Alexander Olson, Leonid Parfenov, Sergei Parkhomenko, Gleb Pavlovsky, Irina Petrovskaya, Irina Prokhorova, Grigory Revzin, Yuri Saprykin, Masha Slonim, Anatoly Smeliansky, Maxim Sokolov, Svetlana Sorokina, Alexander Timofeevsky, Alexei Venediktov, Alexander Voloshin, Anatoly Yakovlev, Vladimir Yakovlev and all others who shared their stories with me.

In telling the story, I relied both on primary and secondary material. Leon Aron’s excellent biography of Boris Yeltsin was an invaluable guide through the 1980s and 1990s. Bruce Clark’s prophetic An Empire’s New Clothes, the diaries of Veronika Kutsyllo and reporting by Sergei Parkhomenko helped build the picture of the nationalist and communist mutiny of October 1993. David Hoffman’s thorough and exhaustive The Oligarchs and Chrystia Freeland’s vivid Sale of the Century shone light on the workings of the oligarchy. Peter Baker’s and Susan Glasser’s Kremlin Rising helped with the early 2000s, while Fiona Hill’s and Clifford Gaddy’s authoritative Operative in the Kremlin remains the best overall portrait of Putin and his background. My own reporting for the Financial Times and The Economist form the basis of the chapters about the 2000s.

I enjoyed the company and the inspirational working space provided by St Antony’s College and the Reuters Institute for Journalism in Oxford, and the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

I also benefited from the help, advice and friendship of Maria Alexandrova, Elena Amelina, Anne Applebaum, Edward and Charlotte Baring, Catherine Belton, Kakha Bendukidze, Inna Berezkina, Tony and Catherine Brumwell, Neil and Emma Buckley, Larisa Burakova, Guy Chazan, James Coomarasamy and Nanette Van der Laan, Katharina Coudenhove-Kalergi, Bjorn Fagerberg, Peter Favorov, Olga Fedianina, Ralph Fiennes, Floriana Fossato, Dina Goder, Maria Gordon, Varya Gornostaeva, Lilia and Sergei Grachev, Igor Gurovich, Andrew Higgins, Fiona Hill, Nato Kancheli, Lidia Kolpachkova, Ivan Krastev, Andrei Kurilkin, Sophie Lambroschini, Maya Lavrinovich, Dominic Lieven, Michael McFaul, Elena Nemirovskaya, Konstantin Oganesyan, Anna Panikhina, Quentin and Mary Peel, Illaria Poggiolini, Marc and Rachel Polonsky, Peter Pomerantsev, Pavel Ponizovsky and Richard Wallis, Irina Reznik, Carolyn Sands, Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Yuri Senokosov, Robert Service, Lyuba Shats, Richard Shillito, Adele and Sebastian Smith, Tatyana Smolyarova, Noah Sneider, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Alexander Sorin and Katya Bermant, Angela Stent, Olga Stepanova, Tiffany Stern and Dan Grimley, Sir Tom Stoppard, John Tefft, John and Carol Thornhill, Marcus and Sally Vergette, Tom de Waal and Georgina Wilson, Alex, Rupert and Joss Wilbraham, Andrew Wilson, Janice Winter, Joshua Yaffa and Natalya Zorkaya.

My family has been the rock that made everything possible. I thank my brother Sergei and my parents Misha and Raya for all their unconditional love, support and care. I am indebted to Diana Hewitt for looking after me in the Welsh mountains. My biggest debt, however, is to my wife Becky, who carried the burden of this book. She unfailingly read and edited various drafts and kept the family on an even keel. I thank her for her forbearance. My children Petya, Liza and Polina gave me the strength and reason to write this book in the hope that they would one day read it. I dedicate it to Becky with love and in friendship.